People For the American Way

Will Nebraska’s Senators Help Our Federal Courts?

Nebraska has a judicial vacancy that has been open for more than a year, leaving fewer judges available to handle the state’s relatively heavy caseload. Fortunately, there is a fully vetted nominee with strong bipartisan support who could fill that slot today. Unfortunately, Robert Rossiter is stuck in the middle of a bottleneck deliberately engineered by Senate Republicans. The question is whether Senators Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse, both Republicans, will exercise their influence with party leadership to clear up that bottleneck for the benefit of their fellow Nebraskans and the rest of the country.

[Nebraska has] the most per-judgeship weighted filings among the eight states that have only three authorized judgeships and a single federal district. With a small bench and a full docket, it is important that this federal district court is operating at full capacity. Despite this fact, however, the judgeship that Bob has been nominated for has been vacant for more than a year. [T]his court must be provided with the necessary resources to work efficiently[.] … I urge my colleagues to support Bob Rossiter’s nomination quickly so that he can put his outstanding intellect, skill, and judgement to work for the American people.

However, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has needlessly forced all of President Obama’s nominees to wait for floor votes far longer than necessary, creating a bottleneck that delays everyone. He has allowed only ten judicial confirmation votes so far this year, an absurdly small number that has caused judicial vacancies and judicial emergencies to skyrocket since Republicans took over the Senate.

When McConnell finally schedules a vote on a circuit or district court nominee, it has been in the order that they came out of the Judiciary Committee (and, when nominees advance on the same day, the order that they are listed on the Senate Executive Calendar). Rossiter has many nominees ahead of him in the list of circuit and district court nominees currently waiting for a floor vote:

L. Felipe Restrepo (PA, Third Circuit) – July 9

Travis McDonough (TN) – July 9

Waverly Crenshaw (TN) – July 9

Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright (MN) – September 17

John Vazquez (NJ) – September 17

Paula Xinis (MD) – September 17

Brian Martinotti (NJ) – October 29

Robert Rossiter (NE) – October 29

Edward Stanton (TN) – October 29

Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger (IA) – November 5

Leonard Strand (IA) – November 5

Julien Neals (NJ) – November 5

Gary Brown (NY) – November 5

Mark Young (CA) – November 5

So if Sens. Fischer and Sasse want to get help to the overburdened Nebraska federal court as soon as possible, they need to do more than just press McConnell to schedule a confirmation vote for Rossiter. If they want to help their constituents in Nebraska, they need to press McConnell to immediately allow votes on all those judicial nominees ahead of Rossiter. Like all 14 pending nominees, they have been fully vetted and face no opposition. In fact, all 14 could and should be confirmed immediately.

There is no good reason that Fischer and Sasse can’t make sure Rossiter is confirmed by the time they go home for Thanksgiving.